13 Reverse Mortgage Marketing Ideas

May 16, 2014

For homeowners who are over the age of 62 and struggling to make ends meet with their retirement, a reverse mortgage could be the solution they need to maintain their quality of life. They get paid based on the equity in their home and the age of the youngest occupant, get to keep their home, and they can enjoy the later years of life to the best of their ability. In order to sign up these reverse mortgages, however, you’ve got to get a marketing message out to those who could benefit from them.

The first step is to make sure people fully understand what a reverse mortgage is and how it will affect their finances. Your honesty in the marketing materials that you provide will give people the information that they need to make an empowered decision and that will help to drive business your way.

Reverse Mortgage Marketing Ideas for Success

1. You need to encourage people to act now, because they won’t act on a reverse mortgage without encouragement. It’s nice to have this line of credit available, but it’s a pretty big decision that will make people think three or four times about it before making a final decision.

2. Meet the needs of the people who need a reverse mortgage and you’ll get their signature on the dotted line almost every single time. That’s really what this industry boils down to when push comes to shove: it meets a specific need that must be met. There’s always going to be people who blow through their line of cash from a reverse mortgage in a year or two, but many people just want this line of credit to meet one specific need. Target that.

3. Keep your marketing pitch concise and tight. The senior community is either brilliantly frugal with their money because of their years of investing or out of control because they don’t see a long future ahead of them. By keeping the language tight and concise, you’ll get your point across quickly without any bells or whistles that could set off red flags in a lead.

4. Use postcards to get your message out there. The senior community does a good job of checking their mail. When you send them a targeted postcard that clearly explains the value behind a reverse mortgage and provide some examples of how it might help that person holding your card, you’ve got the possibility of being able to strike a chord within that person which will turn them into a prospect.

5. Utilize a lot of take-home information so that people can have an initial conversation at your office and then take home some legit data to mull over when they get home. If you’ve been able to answer all of their questions, then you’ll have them thinking about the product pretty strongly when they’re home watching TV.

6. Utilize a group presentation to reach more people at the same time. There is often a lot of interest in a reverse mortgage within a community, so much so that you could get all of the questions a community has answered with one simple seminar or presentation. Schedule a free meeting at a local hotel, get some snacks and coffee ready, and you’ll have people come to see what your service is all about.

7. Don’t just focus on the homeowners because their children are part of this decision too, whether they know it yet or not. If the reverse mortgage will require a payoff of the loan when it is time for the property to pass on to the kids, then they deserve to know this ahead of time and be able to plan ahead financially if they’ll want to keep the home in the family.

8. Remind seniors that they won’t lose their benefits just because they have a reverse mortgage. It’s one of the most common reasons why people decide not to get this funding option – because they’re afraid of losing their SSI. They won’t risk losing their current benefit package with this line of credit, which means they can enjoy life just a little bit more.

9. Consider utilizing geotagged PPC advertising to reach savvy local customers who are wanting financial options. The first step that many seniors take is to go online… or have their kids or grandkids go online… and begin to research the reverse mortgage process. This is a prime opportunity for you to connect with local prospects at the initial stages of consideration and you’ll be the first one with a foot in the door.

10. You must install analytics onto your website and advertising campaigns so that you can always know what is working effectively. There’s no sense in spending money uselessly, so keep your keywords focused and don’t be afraid to change something that isn’t working.

11. Blogging helps to develop organic leads that require no effort beyond the content composition. Discussing the pros and cons of a reverse mortgage, providing testimonials that are verifiable, and other aspects of the industry in blog form can provide seniors with the level of value they need to make an empowered decision about a reverse mortgage. According to HubSpot, reverse mortgage agencies that blogged multiple times per day were 92% more likely to acquire a customer through this marketing method.

12. Consider using affiliate marketing on a local basis to drum up more awareness of what you provide. Give local businesses a small percentage of a sale that they send your way and this proven method will give you the chance to achieve great profitability. If you have an online presence, then hiring online affiliates to do the same task will get you even more leads over time.

13. Lead with the strengths in every marketing campaign, such as the fact that reverse mortgages aren’t taxable or subject to higher lending fees. Best of all, you can upsell a reverse mortgage with other services that create a win/win situation for everyone involved.

After being physically and mentally disabled by a brain tumor, Brandon overcame the odds to regain his health to help his pregnant wife in her fight against stage 3 breast cancer. A couple of years later he launched his blog. Today over 1 million business owners read his blog every month. Read Brandon's inspirational comeback story here.